Britain reveals details of Independent Monitoring Commission

The British Government has announced details of the powers and duties of the proposed Independent Monitoring Commission.

The establishment of the four-man body was part of the recent Irish-British declaration on implementing the Good Friday Agreement.

The proposed commission would be tasked with monitoring whether paramilitaries are honouring their ceasefires and whether politicians from across the sectarian divide are living up to their commitments under the 1998 agreement.

It would also decide whether the Irish and British governments are honouring their obligations.

The members of the proposed commission have already been appointed by the Irish, British and US Governments.

The US nominee is Richard Kerr, a former director of the CIA spy agency, while the Irish nominee is Joe Brosnan, a former secretary-general in the Department of Justice. Britain’s two nominees are John Grieve, a former head of the London Metropolitan Police’s anti-terrorism unit, and John Allardice, the Speaker in the suspended Northern Assembly and former leader of the Alliance Party.

The British government said today that the proposed commission would report every six months on the status of paramilitary ceasefires.

These reports would include assessments of the involvement of paramilitaries in murders, attacks on security forces, sectarian violence, rioting, intelligence gathering, training, weapons procurement, punishment attacks, exiling and other criminal activities.

They would also include assessments of whether paramilitary leaders were directing such activities or trying to prevent them.

The reports would only be given to the British government, which would then decide what action, if any, should be taken by the Northern Assembly.